After a police operation against a rioter who subsequently died in Oer-Erkenschwick in the Recklinghausen district three weeks ago, the public prosecutor’s office is now investigating four officers for coercion.
There was an initial suspicion that emergency services would have acted on bystanders who had filmed the police action. In at least one case, officials suspected they deleted a video on a witness’ cell phone. That meets the initial suspicion of coercion, said the Bochum public prosecutor on Sunday.
No further details were given. Neither the public prosecutor’s office nor the investigating Dortmund police could be reached for questions until Sunday afternoon.
The case of August 7 made headlines nationwide: The 39-year-old, who is said to have rioted in an apartment, lost consciousness during the police operation and died a few hours later in the hospital. At the time, the police had announced that the man had put up such massive resistance that the police had used pepper spray. A preliminary investigation into physical harm was initiated at the office against the eight police officers involved.
What the 39-year-old died of was still unclear after the autopsy, the public prosecutor wrote on Sunday. The man was probably under the influence of drugs.
According to the police, around 150 onlookers followed the operation, many filmed with their cell phones. “According to the current status of the investigation, there are indications that officers used could have viewed film recordings on the cell phones of the witnesses immediately after the police measures and, at least in one case, could have deleted them,” wrote the public prosecutor’s office on the suspicion of coercion by officers.
The public prosecutor said that an external specialist company had been commissioned to restore the possibly deleted videos on the cell phones of the witnesses. At the same time, the investigators appealed to other witnesses of the operation to contact the Dortmund police.
The investigations into the police operation in the Recklinghausen district are being carried out by the Dortmund police for reasons of neutrality – while at the same time the Recklinghausen police are investigating the case of a 16-year-old boy who was shot by police officers in Dortmund. There had recently been criticism of this crossed responsibility from various sides.